--- title: "Taco Bell: Silence as a Marketing Strategy" id: "25803" type: "post" slug: "taco-bell-silence-as-a-marketing-strategy" published_at: "2014-10-29T19:00:21+00:00" modified_at: "2026-03-16T12:58:45+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2014/10/29/taco-bell-silence-as-a-marketing-strategy/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2014/10/29/taco-bell-silence-as-a-marketing-strategy.md" excerpt: "How Taco Bell won the attention of many an online surfer by turning off its website and social feeds. Also: Make it easy—but not too easy—to comment in your online community." taxonomy_category: - "Marketing / Communications" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AssociationsNow" - "Business" - "Marketing" - "meeting strategy" - "Social Media" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "C-Level" - "Director" - "VP" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Taco Bell: Silence as a Marketing Strategy It may be the boldest approach to social media, and media in general, in a long time. On Tuesday [Taco Bell (opens in a new tab)](http://www.tacobell.com/home) announced its new mobile app, becoming the first major traditional fast-food chain to support online ordering. (Fast-casual chains such as Chipotle and Chop’t long beat the likes of McDonald’s and Burger King to the punch.) For a certain audience who grew up with chalupas and chili-cheese burritos, the value proposition speaks for itself—but just in case it didn’t, Taco Bell had an impressive trick up its sleeve to persuade people to download the app: [It shut off its website and every one of its social media platforms (opens in a new tab)](http://adage.com/article/digital/taco-bell-launches-mobile-app-blacks-social-sites/295604/) . It’s clever. It’s probably a stunt, though; Taco Bell’s Senior Director of Digital Marketing and Platforms Tressie Lieberman suggests that the company “won’t be able to stay away for too long.” Nonetheless, it raises an interesting question: When it comes to marketing a product, when does it pay to be quiet or focus your efforts on a single channel? ### Lower the Friction > Online community success needs dialogue – make commenting easier: [http://t.co/KwLKBab6c1 (opens in a new tab)](http://t.co/KwLKBab6c1) > [#assnchat (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/hashtag/assnchat?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > > — Lowell Aplebaum, FASAE, CAE (@Lowellmatthew) [October 29, 2014 (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/Lowellmatthew/status/527469480470126595?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) **If commenting is too hard,** people won’t want to do it. That’s one of the arguments RealMatch’s Carole Oldroyd makes on the company’s [Recruitment Advisor (opens in a new tab)](http://blog.realmatch.com/) blog. Authentication is important, but if it’s too confusing, it’s going to discourage people from sharing their thoughts. “Once a user is logged in, asking for CAPTCHA and other verifications before every comment that a user makes is unnecessarily frustrating, and could deter, not encourage, communication,” she explains. But even so, she emphasizes that someone needs to play the role of watchdog: “Some sort of a gatekeeper is necessary to keep out the riffraff, which on a blog, takes the form of spam and automated comments.” Check out [some of Oldroyd’s other points (opens in a new tab)](http://blog.realmatch.com/trade-publishers/how-to-build-a-thriving-commenter-community/) here. *(ht @[Lowellmatthew (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/Lowellmatthew/status/527469480470126595) )* ### Other Links of Note **Hewlett-Packard’s visionary desktop computer** doesn’t have a keyboard at all. [Take a look at Sprout (opens in a new tab)](http://sprout.hp.com/) , the company’s newest offering. **FYI, bookworms:** Check out how the International Reading Association handles its social media strategy [over at SocialFish (opens in a new tab)](http://www.socialfish.org/2014/10/association-social-media-international-reading-association/) . **Good news for AT&T customers** on unlimited data plans: The Federal Trade Commission has heard your pain about the wireless giant’s data throttling policies, which reduced some customers’ data speeds by almost 90 percent, [and is suing the company (opens in a new tab)](http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/ftc-sues-att-over-data-throttling-policies-says-35m-customers-have-been-thr/2014-10-29) . (iStock Editorial/Thinkstock) [Ernie Smith](https://associationsnow.com/author/ernie-smith/) Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/ernie-smith/) Tags: [#Business](https://associationsnow.com/tag/business/) [#Marketing](https://associationsnow.com/tag/marketing/) [#meeting strategy](https://associationsnow.com/tag/meeting-strategy/) [#Social Media](https://associationsnow.com/tag/social-media/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## You Might Like - [VideoRecap from the 2025 ASAE MMC+Tech ConferenceMay 19, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/05/19/recap-from-the-2025-asae-mmctech-conference/) - [VideoSneak Peek: Highlights from Day 2 of the 2025 ASAE MMC+Tech ConferenceMay 14, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/05/14/sneak-peek-highlights-from-day-2-of-the-2025-asae-mmctech-conference/) - [VideoDaily Recap: Day 1 from the 2025 ASAE MMC+Tech ConferenceMay 13, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/05/13/daily-recap-day-1-from-the-2025-asae-mmctech-conference/) - [VideoSneak Peek: Highlights from Day 1 of the 2025 ASAE MMC+Tech ConferenceMay 13, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/05/13/sneak-peek-highlights-from-day-1-of-the-2025-asae-mmctech-conference/) ## Comments **Comments are for ASAE members.** [Learn more about comments on this site.](https://associationsnow.com/comments/) [Log in](https://associationsnow.com/login?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fassociationsnow.com%2F2014%2F10%2F29%2Ftaco-bell-silence-as-a-marketing-strategy%2F%23comments) to your member account or [join ASAE](https://my.asaecenter.org/select-a-membership-type/) !